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Whether we like it or not, in each state we must always come to feel the lack, that is, to imagine the future state out of our present one. If I construct it correctly, then despite of all my efforts to do so, I will feel how distant I really am from it. In other words, I really want it, and yet I am unable to attain it.

This is called a “lack,” preparation for the future state, which is always revealed before passing into a new state. This feeling of lack is very multidimensional and unpleasant.

The next state shines on me, and because of this luminescence, I begin to value it more, while perceiving my present state as defective and insufficient. I feel the extent to which I lack the strength to ascend and the extent to which I desire it.

As a result, I come to a convergence of my passionate desire to ascend and my realization that I have no chance of making it happen, and that is when I erupt into a prayer, a scream, and the upper Light comes to my aid. After all, this scream (prayer) shows my great desire, which draws the right kind of Light, helping me to ascend to the next degree.

I must come to a scream which comprises two components: 1) my great desire to achieve bestowal, and 2) the realization that I can never achieve it. It is only when I’m about to explode from this pressure caused by my desire and my powerlessness to actualize it, that the Light reacts to the pain and influences me.

Waiting for the Light to come by itself is pointless. It comes in response to my desire for bestowal and draws me with the force sufficient to raise me to a higher degree.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2011, “This Is for Judah”

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Question: When a person tries to come out of Egypt, meaning self-love, he receives blows which he can overcome only by asking the Creator for help. But besides that there is also the material, earthly egoism which receives blows at its level, such as problems with one’s family, health, income, and so on. How should we relate to these problems?

Answer: No matter what kind of problem emerges in my life, first and foremost I must see it as a disturbance that came from the Creator. Even if I am in pain, I must still rise above that disturbance through faith above reason. Despite it all, I know that I have to make calculations above the disturbance and not under its weight. I must stay in touch with its “sender,” the Creator.

As for responsible actions, in the realm of this world I have to resolve all the problems by the commonly accepted methods. When it comes to the bank, work, family, and health, I have to take care of everything just like any person in our world.

Thus, you build up a two-sided attitude to the problems:

– First of all, they come from the Creator and you are dealing only with Him. You want to have these disturbances because they give you the opportunity to rise above knowledge and stay in touch with the Creator. Then you are correctly treating the disturbances and you even begin to love and respect them. After all, no matter how much they bother you, no matter how much salt they put on your wounds, and no matter how nerve-wracking they are, this is exactly what helps you rise above them.

– Secondly, you resolve the incoming problems the way it’s customary in the material world.

Both of these dimensions must be present in your attitude. You attribute the problems to the Creator, and at the same time you want to work with them. We do not throw Pharaoh out of our lives, but we enjoy his troubles. After all, only through them can we reject him and separate from him, and thus ascend higher and higher.

Pharaoh is my most precious flesh, my core, my most sensitive point, my child, the most important and finest string inside of me.

Question: But Pharaoh resists the unity of friends. What do the material troubles have to do with it?

Answer: They also distract you from the inner work. It’s not accidental that so many Kabbalists experienced material problems. The Creator deliberately caused them to be sick and despised by the people around them. It was in order to give them a place where they could overcome.

At the end of the day, all of this is a result of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The desire gradually becomes revealed inside of you and in conformity to it you experience various problems, both in others and in yourself.

Question: Do I have to ask for help in these cases? After all, the Creator helps us in only one respect—unification.

Answer: That’s right, and the problems obstruct you from doing this. When you are sick, it’s difficult for you to focus on love for friends. Most likely, you forget all about it. And that means you have to ask for help. There is none else besides Him. Everything comes from the Creator, but it happens through different channels.

You have to attain the goal, but your body, your “little donkey” is sick and cannot carry you. So what should you do? Leave him to die? But you need him on the path.

Why do you perceive this world separately from the spiritual work? Even small disturbances can be helpful if you work with them correctly. No matter what happens to us, it’s important to remember that this comes from a single Source, until we really come to feel that we are in spiritual exile.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/11, Shamati

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Writings of Rabash, “The First Innovation”: All the innovations begin only after a person comes out of self-love. Therefore, the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters. When a person is in Egypt, he cannot be Jewish because he is enslaved to Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. And as long as he is a slave to Pharaoh, he cannot be a slave to the Creator.

It is written concerning this, “The sons of Israel are for Me,” they are My slaves and not slaves of slaves. When a person serves himself, he cannot be the Creator’s slave because it is impossible to serve two kings at the same time. Only after a person comes out of Egypt, meaning egoism, can he be the Creator’s servant. And then he can receive the Torah. It follows that the first innovation is the exit from Egypt.

A person who is inside of his egoistic desire is called a “non-Jew.” A person who rises above his egoistic desire, meaning who comes out of Egypt, is called a “Jew” (Yehudi) because he attains unity (Ihud) with the Light, the Creator.

It is possible to study the Torah, meaning the ways of bestowal, only by ascending, by coming out of Egypt. That is why it is written that the Torah cannot be taught to idolaters, where “cannot” means “it is impossible.” That’s because as long as you remain in the egoistic desire, you do not understand anything about spirituality and you don’t have the smallest chance of reaching it. In your desires and thoughts you cannot grab hold of the end of any thread that extends from the spiritual world.

You need auxiliary means, and only by correctly using them will you attain what you desire. Therefore, all the innovations and spiritual changes are possible only after coming out of Egypt, meaning egoism. Until then, it is impossible to understand anything. Until then, we are in total darkness and can only advance with our eyes closed according to the Kabbalists’ advice.

This is all that remains for us—to understand how opposite our world is to the spiritual world. In order to climb out of the darkness to the Light, it won’t help us to turn 180 degrees around. That’s because our darkness is the darkness of Egypt, which does not have a direction toward the Light. Only gradually, by means of making the right actions do we reach the right desire. Even though it is also egoistic, yet by virtue of the Light’s influence we can then come out of Egypt into the altruistic intention of Lishma.

This is talking about states that are absolutely divided from one another. A person who is in the lower world, meaning in the egoistic state, in the intention “for the sake of reception” is unable to understand the plans and actions of those who are moved by bestowal. One does not have any contact with the other. They are completely different programs that do not intersect with one another in any way.

In relation to the spiritual world, our world does not exist. It is expressed only in a person’s imagination as a preliminary, imaginary reality that is necessary for entering the spiritual reality, which is the only one that exists. Everything we see and imagine here is similar to the visions of a person who lies unconscious.

Therefore, all the innovations, attainments, and true calculations begin with the exit from Egypt.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What should the world Kli focus on now in order to feel that we are in Egypt and to really desire to come out of it?

Answer: We have to remain in an ascent instead of a descent. Each of us and all of us together should never descend or stray from the established order because this will definitely cast us down.

We must very quickly turn to the week of Passover and prepare ourselves, understanding what the exodus from Egypt means. We must prepare for this inspiration and this surge with all our might. The more powerful our aspiration will be, the more we will be influenced by the Lights of Passover.

We have to actualize this right now. First of all, we must be united. It’s not one person that comes out of Egypt, but everyone without exception: women, men, children, and the elderly. This is the unification toward the common exodus. This is what we have to think about, constantly keeping the intention.

There is less than a week left until the holiday. A “holiday” is an external sign, but by using these seven days we will be able to unite, to create such a connection and form such intentions at the lessons that we will “get a lift” forward.

Some people are experiencing a descent and others—an ascent. Others yet are feverishly undergoing changes. But we need all of these states. A person must value a descent just as an ascent because you can’t have one without the other.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash, “Until The Ruler Of Egypt Fell”: One must work for the sake of the heavens, meaning for the sake of bestowal. In exile this assessment was made under the power of Pharaoh, the King of Egypt.

I do not know what real bestowal is or how it is possible to give anything to a person who is completely detached from me, when there are no “common foundations” for kindness, such as commonly accepted morals, the respect of others around me, or anything else.

Some people throw money around and squander entire fortunes, and they feel pleasure from this. They receive sufficient compensation for their “bestowal.” One person is satisfied by a kind word, another by being remembered well by the future generations, and a third by self-respect.

In the West there is a new trend called “a dollar a day.” A person contributes a dollar a day to feed a hungry African child who will never find out who he is. Yet, contributions like this also bring satisfaction because I am giving someone life. What is a dollar compared to the feelings this elicits in me?

However, we are talking about total separation from self-gratification. We cannot imagine or feel such a thing in our life. We do not understand how it is possible to give to someone without any response in thought or sensation. This is concealed from us.

This is the meaning of exile when we first encounter it: It turns out that I do not know what pure bestowal is. I am separated from spirituality precisely in this regard.
Egypt (Mitzraim) means a notch (Metzer), and a notch means a scantity of mercy when a person only knows how to receive, without bestowing anything.

We are yet to discover that we are devoid of any premises of bestowal and only know how to receive. If I receive, then I give. But in general, this is not bestowal. I just call it that way because in our world we judge a person by his actions instead of his intentions. Intentions belong to the science of Kabbalah, while actions belong to the opinion of this world.

“Width” is generosity, great bestowal. A “notch” is the opposite, a lack of bestowal. Thus, the power of Egypt was that every person could make actions only in return for payment.

This is us. But we don’t really realize this and that is why our state is still not considered exile. Our lives our OK. True, we’re Egyptians, but so what?
He does not let them carry out even one action without payment, only for the sake of bestowal.
This is our Pharaoh. And we don’t even realize that he controls us. The power of Pharaoh becomes revealed only when you want to do something for the sake of bestowal and discover that you are unable to. That is when Pharaoh, the Egyptian King, is revealed. But until then, you are sitting on the throne yourself and doing whatever you want.
This means that Egypt was a notch for Israel.
In other words, it obstructed the direction of straight to the Creator (Yashar El).
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/11, Preparation to Going Out From Egypt

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Question: How can I learn to place more importance on the intention rather than the understanding of the text when we study the Kabbalistic sources in the group or when I read them alone?

Answer: When I read alone, I also have to think that we all are connected together. It is as though I plunge into our collective desire which connects us into one, where we are united all together even though we don’t feel it.

I try to be on the same level. Being together with everyone inside the system that connects us all, where we all share the same desire and energy, I wish to sense that there are no differences between me and the others.

Then, when reading the text, I try to penetrate into its essence as much as possible and, most importantly, not to disconnect from the inner connection between us. If I need to give 99% of my strength to the thoughts about our connection, I have to do that. Then I use only 1% for understanding what I read. Sometimes I don’t even know what I am reading about: So big are the distractions that come to me.

However, I should not worry about the fact that later on I won’t be able to tell what I just read. The key is to wish to connect with everyone when my eyes follow the letters. This is enough for the text to influence me.

I specifically want to emphasize that first of all you have to think about the connection between us, and only then you may read and understand the text as much as you are able to.
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From Lesson 4, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Writings of Rabash, “Purpose of the Group”: In order to attain bestowal to the Creator, it is first necessary to bestow to man, which is called love for the neighbor.

Our nature is completely opposite to love for the neighbor. I only love myself. All of my calculations, whether conscious or unconscious, are built exclusively on personal benefit.

The way I sit, the way I look, the way I think, and what I see—all of this is funneled through the filter of my egoism, leaving me only with the things that can benefit me or pose a threat. Everything has to serve my personal well-being. That is my nature.

However, I have to achieve universal bestowal, universal love, the Creator’s eternal force, eternal life. And to do that, I need to do preliminary exercises in the group. That is why Rabash continues:

Love for the neighbor is possible only when you reject yourself.

One comes instead of the other. Bestowal and reception cannot live together with each other.

I have 613 desires and as a whole my desire acts only for its own sake. This is the situation at the beginning. Then I begin to cut away from it “piece by piece,” starting with the easiest desires and progressing to the most difficult ones.

That is how I correct myself, step by step, and instead of a part of the egoistic desire, I acquire the desire to bestow. In the meantime, in the rest of my desires I still remain in the intention "for my own sake." That is how I correct parts of me.

However, there is a condition: If I have corrected at least one of my desires for the sake of bestowal, then the rest can no longer remain in the egoistic intention. That is why they have to undergo restriction.

I have a large vessel and at first it is entirely aimed at self-benefit. First of all I make a restriction and only then am I able to transform the first, smallest desire to bestowal to others.

Thus, I have a great desire. I make a restriction on it and then I cut off the thinnest layer of myself. From that piece, I am able to perform bestowal. In the meantime, restriction reigns over all the other desires. Then I cut off the second layer, then the third, and that is how I correct them one after another.

Two desires cannot exist in one person: one aimed at himself and one aimed at bestowal. After all, they are opposite to one another. In order to be able to acquire even the smallest desire of bestowal, all the other desires have to be restricted.
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From the 5th lesson at the WE! Convention on 4/1/11

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Dear friends!

All of us together experienced the unforgettable minutes at the WE! Convention that was held in New Jersey. With each convention our connection and the sensation of the entire world group becomes clearer and closer.

But at the same time, there is a need to see and hear all of us simultaneously on one common screen as if we are located all together in one convention hall. I ask all of you to think about this because then we will succeed in creating a program that would be able to accept all the groups and present everyone as if they are together, hearing and seeing the same thing.

We have to create this virtual illusion among us. It will help us to quickly reach the total, spiritual unification of everyone into one desire and one thought, to become one man, Adam.
Dr. Michael Laitman
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